


Rapid Changes

by triangulumkel



Category: Gravity Falls
Genre: Transcendence AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-22
Updated: 2014-12-22
Packaged: 2018-03-02 19:34:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,075
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2823569
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/triangulumkel/pseuds/triangulumkel
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Pacifica gets involved in a protest and gets in way over her head.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Rapid Changes

**Author's Note:**

> This was mostly meant to be a collection of drabbles, and it kinda turned into something else?? idk. But uh, forgive me if Paz is super OOC.  
> Also, there's not a lot of Dipper in here... huh. Not sure why.

The short hair had not agreed with Pacifica. Now, the bleached white hair- that, she liked. Of course her parents had thrown another fit, but Mabel had been so excited that it was waaaaaay worth it. Mabel had been trying to get her to do a 'Wild Hair Night' for years. She'd been surprised when Pacifica finally said yes, but she didn't question it.

So now Pacifica Northwest, richest teenager, well, anywhere, was the proud bearer of two feet of snow white hair. And yeah, maybe now everyone stared at her no matter where she was, but they had before anyway, so who cared? Might as well give them something to look at.

Besides, it looked fantastic with her new Jeffrey Campbell platforms and those awesome leggings. And maybe that one sweater Mabel had made her.  
(No matter how many comments her mother made about her "looking like that awful ice movie" she was keeping this hairstyle.)

\---

When Mabel dragged her to that protest, she hadn't said a thing about media coverage. "Come on, it'll be fun, Pacifica! Don't you want to be a part of change for the better? You know a lot of people who would benefit from this, don't you want to help them?" And then that ridiculous puppy face that should be illegal, and Mabel's freaky (and not even remotely attractive, nope) demon brother appearing behind her to mouth, "Please go with her." How on earth were you supposed to say no to that? Besides, it was only a peaceful protest. No biggie.

But media coverage was a whole other story.

Now everyone who was anyone knew she'd been there. Thanks to her hair, she'd been easily identifiable in even the most blurry photo. She was starting to feel some real regret about that, but she still wasn't dying it back.

Oh well. There were worse things to be in the news for.

\---

After the last protest and media circus, Pacifica had promised herself she wouldn't let Mabel get her into any more 'adventures'. And yet despite this, here she was, in some cold alley in Portland at three in the morning, meeting with some friends of Mabel's to plan a march last minute.

She rolled her eyes and turned to Mabel. "Remind me why this has to be done now?"

"I told you already, the governor will be in town today and we only just found out and we need her to sign onto that bill!" Okay, that was a lot of info to process in three seconds, but it made sense. Paz sighed. She'd really been hoping that there was no good reason and they could go home.

Mabel was listening intently to the girl with the dark clothes again. Pacifica tuned her out, mentally berating herself for getting caught up in this. She was going to be in sooooo much trouble, independent semi-adult or not.

\---

Seven hours later, Paz was absolutely sure that she'd make the worst mistake of her life. 

She was in jail. 

Jail.

\---

The first thing Pacifica did upon seeing Mabel was very calmly walk over to her, take her by the shoulders, breathe in, and scream, "MABEL PINES WHERE WERE YOU AND WHY HAVEN'T YOU PAID MY BAIL YOUR FUCKING DEMON BROTHER JUST POOFED IN AND THEN HE GRABBED ME AND POOF AND I WAS SICK AND-"

"PACIFICA NORTHWEST! Calm down."

"I- Right." Normally Paz would here make a comment about how Northwests are always calm, but clearly she was not. At the very least, a Northwest knew how to choose their battles. She let go of Mabel and studied her feet. "Sorry."

She heard a sigh from somewhere definitely above where Mabel's face should be, and looked up. There was the aforementioned demon brother, hovering over the two of them. He glanced at Paz in the most contemptuous way possible, then away again.

"In case you didn't know, the only reason you aren't in jail now was because my sister insisted that I come get you when I picked her up. Really, this is not the gratitude one would expect after having saved someone the trouble of the various legal procedures involved in being arrested."

Paz really did feel guilty now, but no way was she going to let this asshole know that, red face and disgusting emotions be damned.

"Do you always talk like that? Pretty pretentious for someone who lives here. I seem to recall Mabel telling me you once admitted to not knowing the definitions of half the words you use. Besides, maybe I'd thank you if I hadn't just been wasting away in that filthy-"

Mabel clapped her hands between their faces. "Okay! That's enough of that. We're all a little freaked out, a lot tired, and we've just committed multiple crimes. I think we deserve some rest." She looked directly at Pacifica. "Paz, you can stay here until you feel up to leaving, or if your parents get mad or something, you can stay until you want to leave. We've got room."

Dipper spluttered indignantly, arms and stupid, totally not adorable buttwings waving everywhere. Mabel rounded on him. "You! That was so rude! I refuse to tolerate this-" And yep, there was the Pines arm waving from her- "-This absolute childishness!"

Dipper's face twisted into a look of total incredulity. "Childishness? Mabel, you live for that junk! I can not believe you!"

Paz stood there, listening to the sibling banter that had become so familiar to her. Her name brand clothes were covered in dirt, pizza stains, and some sort of unidentifiable slime. She was cold and bruised. There was a huge ass cut on her leg that needed to be taken care of. She hadn't eaten in over twelve hours. Normally at this point someone would've been fired, because a Northwest deserved better than this, but really, she could care less about being a Northwest right now. All that mattered was that she get a shower ASAP.

Also the warm fuzzy feeling in her chest. That too.

\---

Two weeks was more than long enough for the Northwest lawyer to take care of the lawsuits, and for Paz's parents to cool off.

At least, that's what she'd thought.

She'd thought that right up until the teacup had shattered a few inches from her head. It'd been her mother's favorite.

She'd still half hoped that maybe they were just angry that she hadn't contacted them, or that she'd told them nothing about where she was, or that they had no idea if she'd been kidnapped, or- but no, it was only that she'd smeared the family name. They made that plenty clear.

They also made it clear that she was no longer welcome under their roof unless she shared their political views and "stopped associating with that demon and possessed girl. It's below you, Pacifica, and frankly dangerous. Clearly they've had a negative influence on you."

And that was just not going to fly. So far Paz had allowed her parents to tell her what she should and shouldn't do, based solely on their own interests. But those two weeks had been some of the best she'd ever had, and she wasn't giving that up for these people. They didn't deserve to be called her parents. They didn't care about her.

She walked out that door and didn't look back.

\---

Pacifica had walked all the way back to the Mystery Shack. She didn't know what she was doing, but there wasn't really anywhere else she could go.  
She'd knocked on the door, blankly told Mabel (and probably Dipper, he was usually around) what had happened. She'd had a blanket thrust at her and been shoved towards the couch. Rough treatment, but it was motivated by kindness.

Once she'd gotten situated, Mabel had hugged her and given her a mug of tea. It was the cheap kind you can get anywhere, nothing like Paz's favorite Earl Grey, but there was something about just having tea that made her feel a little warmer inside. It took the edge off the pain sitting heavy in her chest.

Now she and Mabel were sitting on the couch and watching weird old black and white movies. Honestly, Pacifica had no idea what was happening onscreen. She had bigger things to worry about at the moment.

Mabel was saying something. Pacifica started, then looked at her. "Sorry, can you say that again?"

"I was saying, you can stay here as long as you need to. You know our door is always open," Mabel said quietly. She looked far more worried than Paz remembered her looking in a long time- a few years maybe. Not since the first summer.

Paz didn't want her to look like that again. She tried a smile, feeling it half-melt on her face. "Thank you. I'll only be here a little while, until-" Oh, she was crying. That was fantastic, smooth delivery, Pacifica. "-Until I can get the trust fund liquidized. Only a little-" And now she was full-blown sobbing. This would sure get Mabel to smile. Some friend.

There was something warm around her shoulders now. It was probably Mabel giving her a hug, but she couldn't see anything through the tears. "Oh, I'm a mess," she choked out, a breathy laugh fighting through the flood of tears.

"Shh," whispered Mabel. "It's alright. It'll be alright. You've got us, remember?" Oh lord, was she crying too? Stupid- Paz had forgotten about how things were between Mabel and her own parents. Of course this would set her off.

"Yeah," she whispered back. "Yeah, we've got each other." She sat back and wiped her face on the back of her hand, grimacing at it. She glanced at Mabel, who was staring at her, teary and wide eyed. Paz stood up. She was a Northwest - sort of - and a Northwest didn't sit around crying. No, there were better things to do.

"Paz?" Mabel said hesitantly. "Are you okay now?"

Pacifica nodded decisively. "I'm okay. And you know what? I think I've got some life planning to do." She turned around and grinned at Mabel viciously enough to give Dipper a run for his money. "Wanna help?"

\---

Paz stayed at the Shack for another two weeks- that was how long it'd taken to get her hands on her trust fund. Then she'd stayed another few days, until she got her apartment and her college lined up. They were both in Portland, far from her parents. Unfortunately, that was also far from Mabel. (And maybe her demon brother, if Paz was feeling generous. Living with him for a month had put her off any thoughts of his attractiveness. It had also planted in her head the glorious idea that if she was ever really mad at him, she should absolutely light a few cinnamon candles and call him 'Dipdop'.)

Mabel had apologized profusely nearly every day, for getting Paz involved, for dragging her into things she didn't want to be a part of, for getting her arrested. Once she'd even apologized for her family being weird, and that was when Pacifica snapped. She'd accepted apologies for getting her to go that protest, because yeah, she was upset about that, but there was no reason for Mabel to start thinking that who she was, what she loved, was something to apologize for. Paz had been through that often enough with her parents to know a destructive behaviour when she saw one. She'd turned to Mabel, grabbed her flailing arms, and looked her dead in the eyes as she told her, "Mabel. All you did was take me to a protest. Everything after that was my fault. Honest. And you know what? My parents are total jerks anyway. I'm pretty much better off now. Significantly less rich, yes, but better off." Mabel had teared up, then suggested that maybe it was time for another Wild Hair Night. Pacifica accepted, partially because this was how Mabel coped sometimes, and partially because her roots were showing and she needed some bleach desperately. 

The apologies continued, but they came less and less frequently, until finally they stopped. Pacifica had grown used to them at random times, like the middle of the night when Mabel thought she was asleep, or when she was learning how to make macaroni and cheese, but she was glad it had stopped.

Finally they could be normal again. Or as normal as they'd ever been.

Whatever.

**Author's Note:**

> This was actually pretty fun to write, so shoot me an ask on my Tumblr if you want more! I'm always down for writing some Paz.


End file.
